The Protection of Sexual Freedom and the Incrimination of the Sexual Assault in Romania
The Protection of Sexual Freedom and the Incrimination of the Sexual Assault in Romania

Summary/Abstract: In the multitude of problems that Romania faces at the beginning of 21st century, the emergence of offences that refer to the sexual life represents a reality that has reached a controversial point, sometimes manifesting through constraints and threats on addressing the victim, extremely violent actions that can lead to the death or even the suicide of the victims. The period that followed after the Romanian Revolution from December 1989 was marked by substantial changes that took place in our perception on sexuality and sexual freedom, and the causes and the negative implications of the facts that infringe this freedom are combated with the penal legislation. The successive legal modifications show progress on the incrimination of different modalities in committing the offences that infringe the sexual freedom (especially rape, sexual aggressions, sexual harassment) and the inclusion of the acts of homosexuality and lesbianism in the material elements of these offences, and also a lack of clarity and coherence of the Romanian legislator in defining the sexual acts, or “other modalities to obtain sexual satisfaction”. This study underlines, on one side, the ambiguity and discordance between the legal norms that sanction the acts of sexual assault, sexual aggression, sexual intercourse with a minor person, sexual harassment, and, on the other side, the different aspects that these offences can display into practice. Another aspect preponderantly discussed has been the criteria for differentiating between rape and other sexual offences, especially when the victims are minors, owing to the increasing amount of texts from the Penal Code that refer to such facts committed against minors.

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